Evening Standard readership rises 130 per cent

The latest figures from the National Readership Survey illustrate the huge growth in readers enjoyed by the Evening Standard since it went free in November.

The Standard distributes some 600,000 free copies a day in London and according to the NRS had an estimated readership of 1.35m a day in the six months to March, an increase of 130 per cent year on year.

The NRS is based on surveys of around 36,000 people over the course of a year, rather than actual circulation, so is only an estimate. Readership estimates are far higher than actual circulation because each newspaper copy is often read by more than one person.

The NRS national newspaper readership breakdown

(Six months to March 2010, with year on year change)

Dailies

Daily Telegraph: 1.76m, up 1 per cent

The Guardian: 1.1m, down 3 per cent

The Independent: 540,000, no change

The Times: 1.7m, down 4 per cent

Daily Express: 1.4m, down 9 per cent

Daily Mail: 4.7m, down 2 per cent

Daily Mirror: 3.2m, down six per cent

Daily Record: 909,000, down 18 per cent

Daily Star: 1.6m, up 10 per cent

The Sun: 7.7m, down 1 per cent

Sundays:

The Observer: 1.2m, down 18 per cent

The Sunday Telegraph: 1.7m, up 2 per cent

The Independent on Sunday: 601,000, down six per cent

The Sunday Times: 3.2m, down 1 per cent

The Mail on Sunday: 5.2m, down 8 per cent

Sunday Express: 1.6m, down 1 per cent

News of the World: 7.7m, no change

The People: 1.3m, down 11 per cent

Sunday Mail: 1.1m, down 13 per cent

Sunday Mirror: 3.9m, down 1 per cent

Sunday Post: 785,000, down 23 per cent

Daily Star Sunday: 949,000, down 13 per cent

Author: Dominic Ponsford

Dominic Ponsford is the editor of Press Gazette View all posts by Dominic Ponsford